Automatic card ejector



May 5, 1931. E. F. w. RICHTER AUTOMATIC CARD EJECTQRv Filed F'eb. 8.1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 VIIIllrllilrllllhllaflft Syvum/woz vMay 5,Y 1931.E. F. w. RICHTER AUTOMATIC CARD EJECTOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2- Filed` Feb. 8,1927 a+ l. l@ Vl\. 1

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E. F. W. RICHTER AUTOMATIC GARD E'JECELOR May'5, 1931.V

Filed Feb. 8. 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 nimmwww Patented May v5, 1931 UNITEDSTATES PATENT oFF-icl.:

ERICH F. W. RICHTER, OF. GERMANY, .ASSIGNOR TO.THE TABULATING MA- CHINECOMPANY, OF ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION F NEW JERSEY AU'roMA'rrcCARD EJEcToR Application led February 8, 1927, Serial No. 166,626, andin Germany October 16, 1926. l

This invention relates to record handling machines and more particularlyto a device for automatically ejecting records from the machine afterthey have been operated upon by it. The invention is particularlyadapted to card punching machines from which the cards are ordinarilymanually removed from for removing cards from a card handling machine.

A more specic object is to provide for. automatically ejecting cardsfrom the ma! chine.

A further object [of the-invention is to provide an automatic cardejector for a card handling machine Awhich is operated by the machineimmediately upon completion of an operation upon a card.

A Jfurther object of the invention is to provide an automatic cardejector for a card handling machine in which cards are carried on a cardcarriage and in which the card carriage trips the ejector at thecompletion of its card carrying movement.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic cardejector for a card handling machine which will be automatically set foran ejecting operation when a card is inserted into the operating portionof the machine.

A further object of the invention is to proi vide an automatic cardejector for a card handling machinein which cards are carried by a cardcarriage and in which the yejector will be automatically set for anejecting operation When the carriage is moved into po' s sitlon t-oreceive a card.

Other objects and advantages of my` invention Will be obvious from thefollowing particular description embodying the invention and of theaccompanying-drawings in which:

on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a duplieating key punch with theauto ejector;

F 1g. 2 is a plan view associated therewith partly in section of theautomatic ejecting device;

' Figs. 3 and 4 are side elevational views of the ejecting unit indifferent positions taken Fig. 5 is a side sectional view of the ejectorunit driving means taken on line 5 5. of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a side partly sectional vie-W of the punching section o themachine; f gig. 7 is a detail of the escapement means, an

Fig. 8 is a plan'view ofI a part of the punchj ing section. For thepurpose of clearly disclosing my invention it has been shown as appliedto a duplicating punch of the type shown in the copending application ofF. Lee and B. Phillips, Serial No. 34,516, led June 3, 192,5. Theoperation of the punch is fully ex, plained in that application and willbe eX- plained in the present case only in suicient detail to define itsrelation to the ejector mechanism.' Referring to Fig. 1 it will beunderstood that the cards may be fed one at a time into the punchingsection 33 by moving the handle 2 to the left. This opera-f' tion movesthe card carriage 16 (Fig. 2) to the rightand picks the bottom card fromthe stack and deposits it on the carriage in posi-4 tion to have itsfirst column punched. If the control ofthe punches is manual, theoperator depreesV the desired key which through a bell lever 41 (Fig. 6)advances an interposer 42 against a spring 43 over the 4h ead of a punch44 normally held by a spring 45 in its uppermost position. Through meansnot `essential to an understanding of the present invention andfullydescribed in the copending application hereinbefore mentioned, theinterposer 42 upon advancing closes a circuit through punch magnet 46which attracts armature 47 to rock lever 48- and moves link 49downwardly. The upper end of the latter is pivoted to a bail or ham-.mer 50 and rocks the latter counterclockwise (as viewed in Fig. 6)about its pivot 51.

ever be engaged on the upper edge by the bail 55 and rocks itcounterclockwise.

nose 53 and will be depressed. thereby thus depressing the punch 44 andcausing punching. During downward movement of the interposer the bottomedge thereof engages a The bail 55 is fixed toa`shaft 56 (see Figs. 6and 8) which carries at one end an arm 57 and an oppositely extendingarm 58 (see Figs. 7 and 8)'. Arm 57 has av pin 59 fixed thereto which isloosely positioned in a hole 60 in a feed pawl 61. Arm 58 has a pin 62seated in a -notch at the forward end of a holding pawl 63 (see Fig. 7).Normally the pawl 61 is in engagement with a tooth on the escapementrack 64 which is provided at the bottom with teeth 65 meshing with gear66 carried by the usual spring drum initially tensioned when thecarriage was moved to the right to receive a. new card. lVhen the`interposer rocks bail 55 and shaft 56during a punching operation, thepin 60 moves upwardly and the pin 62 downwardly. The pawl 61 is therebylifted from the escapement rack and moved by a spring 67 to the left (asviewed in Fig. 7 )until the nose of the pawl rests on and slightly pastthe top of the next tooth. l-Vhile this occurs, the pawl 63 has beenmoved down by pin 62 until it engages the escapement rack. The rack isthereby held from moving during punching. After the hammer 50 has beenrocked to effect the downward Inovement of the interposer and associatedpunch, the circuit through magnet 46 is broken and armature 47 isreleased thereby returning the parts to initial position. The interposerrises and permits bail 55 and shaft 56 to return to initial position.Pin 60 thereupon moves downwardly and pin 62 upwardly. The pawl 63thereupon rises and pawl 6l is allowed to move down, the escapement rackbeing moved by pinion 66iuntil the trough of the next tooth is engagedby the nose of pawl 61. Thus, each time a punching operation iseffected, the rack is permitted to escape one tooth. The rack is rigidwith and part of the card carriage 16. Thus, after the first eolumnispunched the carriage automatically moves one 4step tothe left lto bringthe card into position to have its second column punched. As each columnis punched the step by step feeding movement of the carriage is repeateduntil finally all the card columns are properly punched and the carriagestands in its extreme position to the left where the punched card may beremoved and the handle 2 againnoperated to feed the next card from thebottom of the stack and move the card-carriage to the right intoposition to receive it.

It has hitherto been necessary to manually remove the card from the cardcarriage after ,and deposit it in a suitable lreceptacle when thecarriage advances the card from the last punching position. The ejectorwill now be described.

The reverse movement of the carriage 16 is effected by a rod 32 (seeFig. 5). The feed mechanism through which the reverse movement of thecarriage is effected does not enter particularly into the presentinvention and will not be described as its operation is clearlyexplained in the cepending application above referred to. AIt will beunderstood, however, that whenever the handle 2 is moved to the left tofeed a card and incidentally restore the carriage 16 to its startingposition the rod 32 will be likewise moved `to the left. Rod 32 isenclosed in a slotted tube 3 (see Figs; 1 and 5) and when handle 2 ismoved to the left rod 32 is pushed against another rod 4 to which isatiixed at its left end a rack 5 coacting with gears 6. Abutting thefree end of rack 5 is a spring 7 to which is fixed at its other end aslug 8 slidably mounted in the tube 3. A set screw 6a coacting with slug8 enables the proper adjustment of the tension on the spring 7. Whenspring 7 is compressed rack 5 cooperating with gears Grevolves a shaft 9upon which is mounted the ejector unit 10 (see Fig. 3). This clockwisemovement ofthe shaft 9 rocks the ejector unit 10 to the positionindicated in Fig. 3. A latch 12 pivoted at 13 and biased by a lOt spring14 tends to hold the ejector unit in y 'of sufficient length to comeinto contact with the upper jaw 20 thereby holding the jawsl 18 and 20apart sufliciently for a card to easily slip between them as long as theejector unit is latched by the latch 12 as shown in Fig. 3. An arm 23fixed to the latch member 1'2 carries an adjustable set screw 24 whichlies in the path of a discj25 mounted on the card carriage 16 (see Fig.2). When the last card column is punched the card carriage 16 moves onestep further to the left causing the disc 25 to strike agalnst the setscrew 24 causing the arm 23 and the attached latch 12 to move againstthe action of spring 14 whereupon the ejector unit is released and theshaft 9 carrying the ejector unit is rotated through the agency ofspring 7 and gears 6 to the cjecting posia hole in the jaw encounters amember 27 and pries the jaws apart against the tension of spring 21thereby releasing the card llowiig it to fall into the receptacle 28(see tig. 1

While/I have shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novelfeatures of the invention as applied to a single modiication it will beunderstood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in theform and details of the devices illustrated and in its operation may bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. I intend to be limited therefore only as indicated by thescope of the following claims.

1. In a machine for operating upon records, a record carriage movable inone direction to feed records through the machineand in a reversedirection to receive records for feeding, an ejecting gripping mechanismcontrolled by said carriage for automatically' gripping and ejecting therecords from the machine at the completion of a feeding operation andmeans controlled by said carriage in its reverse movement for settingsaid ejecting` mechanism in readiness for a subsequent ejectingoperation. l

2. In a' machine of the class described, a recerd carriage movable inone direction to forward the records through the machine and in areversed direction to receive records for feeding, an ejecting grippingmechanism controlled by said carriage for automatically gripping andejecting a record from the machine at the completionof a feedingoperation and the ejection being complete irrespective of the reversemovement of the carriage and means for setting said ejecting 4. A recordejector including coacting aws for receiving and gripping a record andmeans for yieldingly urging said jaws together, means for yieldinglyurging said coacting jaws to ejecting position, a latch for releasablyholding said gripping jaws in record receiving position and means forautomatically prying said jaws apart when in either position.

5. A machine comprising means for carrying a sheet through the machinefor an operation, ejecting means, means for actuating the ejecting meansin the direction of the carrying means to remove a sheet directly fromthe carrying means, and means controlled when the carrying means ismoved to receive the next Isheet for-actuating the ejecting meansopposite to the first-named direction into position'to remove said nextsheet from the carrying means.

6. A machine comprising means for carrying a sheet through the machine,means for actuating the carrying means, ej ecting means for eject-ingthe sheet from the carrying means, and means for operating the ejectingmeans including a gear element driven by said actuating means.

7. The invention asset forth in claim 6, in which a spring is providedfor returning the said gear elementpto initial position.

8. The invention as set forth in claim 6, in which a spring is providedfor returning the said gear element to initial position, and meansreleasable by the carrying means is provided to prevent operation ofsaid spring until the carrying means has completedcarrying of the sheetthrough the operating 9. A machine comprising a carriage for feeding asheet through the machine, a single ejecting unit for holding only onesheet at a time, and means for operating said-ejecting unit to grip andeject each sheet carried by the carrying means, operation of saidejector operating means being initiated by said carriage and thereafterinherently completed independently of the carriage.

l0. A card handling mechanism adapted for cooperation with a cardcarriage comprising a trigger mechanism, means controlled by the cardcarriage when the latter moves to card receiving position to cock thesame, and means controlled by card carriage upon movement of the same tocard discharge position to trip the trigger mechanism and effect anejection of the card from the carriage;

11. A card ejec't mechanism adapted.for cooperating with a movable cardcarriage to eject cards therefrom'ysaid ejecting mechanism comprising adevice including grippers with provisions for setting the same under thecontrol of the card carriage to card re-.

12. The invention set forth in claim 11 for d, "1

which a pivotal suppor't is provided for the gripping means beingrotatable about a fixed axis whereby a tilting over movement of thegrippers and the card vcarried thereby may be respective of tlie furthermovement of the carriage.

14. A card eject mechanism for a punching machine or the like having acard carriage, said mechanism comprising a device settable to cardreceiving position, actuating means therefor, latcliing means forrestraining operation of the actuating means, and means operated by thecard carriage for moving the latchingmeans to release the actuatingmeans for actuating the device to grip and eject a card from themachine.

15. In a machine of the character described, an ejecting devicecomprising in combination a gripper for the card or like sheet,resilient means for urging it in a direction to eject a card, a detentnormally holding the gripper in card receiving position against theaction of the resilient means, andmeans for moving the card intoengagementl with the gripper and for concurrently moving the detent outof detaining position thereby enabling the aforesaid resilient means tomove the gripper in a direction to eject the card gripped thereby.

16. A machine comprising means for operating oma-record sheet, meansforcarrying a sheet through thtoperating means for an operation, ejectingmeans for the sheet on the carrying means, actuating means for theejecting means, and a device drivenv by the carrying means for drivingsaid actuating means.

17. The invention as set forth in claim 16 wherein means controlled bythe carriage delays operation of said device to drive the said actuatingmeans until the operation on the card is completed.

18. A machine comprising a frame, card operating means, a carriage formoving a card through the operating means, a shaft caribied by the framewith its axis in a. fixed position relative to the frame, an ejectingden vice including a base portion rigidly call'- ried by said shaft,andmeans controlled bly the carriage for actuating said shaft to causetheejecting means to eject a sheet from the carriage.

19. A machine comprising a frame, card ,i operating means, a carriagefor moving a card through the operating means, a shaft carried by theframe with its axis` in a fixed position relative to the frame, anejecting device completely and solely carried by the said4 shaft, andmeans controlled by the card carriage for operating said ejecting meansto eject a card from the carriage.

20. A machine comprising card operating 'nieans, a carriage for moving.a card through .for ejecting the sheets from the feeding means, .andmeans energized by the feedingv means during movement of the latter inone direction for subsequently actuating said ejecting means to eject asheet after the last operation thereon.

23. A machine comprising means for carrying a sheet through the machine,ejecting means for the sheet including a pair of elements for seizingthe sheet on the carrying means, and means cont-rolled by the carrying-means when the latter reaches a predetermined position for actuatingsaid elements to grip and completely eject a sheet irrespective offurther operation of said carrying means.

24. A machine comprising means for carryi ing a sheet through themachine for an operation, ejecting means for the sheet on said carryingmeans including elements having a predetermined position for receiving asheet, means for setting said elements in said posireceive a sheet, andmeans controlled by the carrying means when it moves a sheet into thetion while the carrying means is moving to bite of said elements foractuating said elements toseize the sheet between them and eject thesheet irrespective of the further operation of said carrying means.

25. The machine such as described in claim 24, the means for settingsaid elements in said receiving position being operated by said carryingmeans.

26. A machinefcomprising means having a forward movement for carrying asheet through the machine, ej ecting means for the sheet on saidcarrying means including elements having a predetermined position forreceiving the sheet, means for setting said elements in saidposition-before the carrying means completes its forward carryingmovement, andameans controlled by the carrying means when itcompletesthe forward rcarrying movement for operating said elements to grip andeject'a sheet irrespective of further movement of the carrying means.

27. A machine such as described-in claim 26, Athe means for setting saidelements in said sheet-receiving position being operated by saidcarrying means.

28. A card handling mechanism including a card carriage, a triggermechanism for ejecting the card from said carriage and automaticallyoperable to flip and turn the card over t eject position, meanscontrolled by the carriage when the latter moves-to card receivingposition to cock the trigger mechanism, and means controlled by thecarriage upon movement of the latter to card discharge position to tripthe trigger mechanism'and edect operation thereof to eject a card.

29. A card eject mechanism comprising i5 pivotally mounted grippers,means for holding said grippers open to receive a card until said cardis completely entered into the grippers, spring means tending to rotatesaid grippers about their pivot t0 eject position, means for restrainingoperation of said spring means until the card is completely entered intothe grippers, and means for releasing said restraining means when thecard is completely entered into the grippers to cause operation of saidspring means for rotating the grippers, to eject position, the latterupon rotation rst gripping the card and then Hip'- ping it over to ejectposition.

30. In a card handling device, an ejecting 3o device including a pair ofelements for seizing and ej ecting a card, a carriage for feeding thecard towards the elements While the latter are stationary, and meanscontrolled by the carriage for driving-the elements t0 eiect completeejection thereby of a card on the cariage before the carriage receivesthe next car 31. The device as described in claim 30, and means formovin said elements oppo- 40 site to the direction o their ejectingmovement into a position for receiving the next card on the carria e.

In testimony w ereof I hereto a'iix my signature. 5 ERICH FRIEDRICHWILHELM RICHTER.

